Pompey v Oldham

Pompey go on the search for a first 3 pointer once more, taking on underachievers Oldham at Fratton.

Vital Quotes:

Oldham flattered to deceive in pre-season, a solid summer seemed to point the way to a rosy future, since the real stuff kicked off though, the Latics have struggled to match the early promise.

Pompey Team News:

Pompey are without the banned Kevin Long this afternoon, this is though countered with the arrival of Johnny Ertl, he steps straight in.Darrel Russell is another new boy vying for a starting spot in the centre, while Josh Thompson will also make the bench.

Player to watch: McLeod

Had a chequered start so far, had his lucky strike against Bournemouth, since then he has contrived to miss a fair few chances, I reckon he will put that right today.

Oldham Team News:

Oldham may ring some changes after defeat to stevenage last week, Jordan Slew is fit after a back strain and should walk back into a more attacking formation.Wesolowski has twanged his hamstring and is out for a month.

Player to watch: Slew

He is the loanee with weight of goalscorer on his shoulders, something that Oldham have struggled with so far.

Comments

Ref was definitely a monkey ... preferred wrestling to football ... missed the the elbow from the oldham no.2, then sent off oldham's no 5. Obita should have got a yellow not a red. Ref couldn't face the pressure ... I could go on but ....
Pompey looked better when Ashley Harris came on Ertl was a bit iffy, but as he only came in the last couple of days but will need to improve.
Dumbuya played well but they were out muscled by Oldham, even if a decent ref might have given us more protection.
Didn't reach the heights of play against Bournemouth, but in patches we played well, just not well enough.

I think anyone at the game will have to agree that this game suffered from poor refereeing! That is an understatement! The ref completely lost the plot in the second half! On reflection, bad refereeing aside, what it looked like to me was that the big strong Oldham side simply used their strength to muscle Pompey and bully them off the ball. The Pompey lads were a bit naive reacting to the Oldham trickery to quickly and missing any protection from the officials. Later in the second half a truer picture shone through as the ref had start to give everyone cards (was it christmas?) so the Oldham players eased off a little with their heavy handed tactics and the skill levels between the team then became apparent! Apart from a few misplaced passes and placement issues that were purely through lack of playing time together, the quality of the Pompey side eclipsed the more than mediocre Oldham side. I just hope that the players and the staff can learn from this game and that quality just improves with time. This was a game that, with more time for the team to gel, we should, and could have quite easily, won.

The worst refereeing display I have seen in years and the worst football match I have seen in a very long time. Premier League fans complain about 'did the ball cross the line or what', chalking off a goal that did cross is heaven compared to the decisions that were made by the clown we were saddled with yesterday. We didn't deserve to lose but we just couldn't cope with the afore mentioned wrestling aspect of Oldhams 'game' (I use the term loosely). Always hated Dickoff in fact I've been hard pressed to find anybody who liked the idiot: did you notice all the Oldham players outstretched arms in the Dickoff fashion, exclaiming, 'what me ref, are you joking or what?' Their right-back was particularly good at this. My biggest worry is that the brilliant crowds we are attracting will stop coming and we will be less attractive to a buyer. PUP.